Others have done it fairly eloquently here already. I'm sorry, but there's just far too many big names he missed in divisions that were stacked at the time. Too many excuses. There's always time for those of course.
I appreciate your point for sure but he was not a traditionally exciting fighter .. often more cautious, surgical and showboating ... agreed that either due to circumstance or risk reward thinking he did not fight many of the marque names of the era and that hurt him. No Toney rematch , no Hopkins till much later, no Cal, Benn, Eubanks, Watson, McCullen , Michael, etc ... they just didn't happen and we saw a lot of boring, methodical Jones fights ... that said I feel he was without an exceptional fighter and at his best at his best weight I really don't see anyone beating him ..
From 1995 to 2002 Roy Jones Jr. fought weak opposition. But a lot of the names people talk about weren't even available or prime during those years. Many of them were on their own bum of the month tours as well, and surely that can't be blamed on Roy.
It was hugely frustrating being a fan of his back then. But tell me how those fights could have happened. Bernard Hopkins would not fight Roy in 2002. That is a fact. He demanded $10m, before walking away for a year before then coming back and challenging out the guys at JMW. Now that's not merely my opinion of what I think happened. That happened. It's a fact. Look at the video that I posted. Eubank is on record stating that he was just content to defend his WBO belt in Europe, and that he'd only have fought Roy had he have become his WBO mandatory. (which was never possible) He said that fighting Roy would have been suicide and that he never pursued the big named U.S. fighters. Those were his words, not mine. Joe Calzaghe would not fight Roy when he was still great. He wouldn't leave Europe until 2008, where he spent most of his career fighting low level competition in the defence of his lightly regarded WBO belt like Eubank had done before him. He was still looking for a career defining fight in his 30's, where he was more than happy fighting the Mario Veit's of the world. And in 1999, he actually said that he wasn't chasing Roy as he didn't want tough fights. Toney skipped through the weights, leaving the only window to fight in 2003. But he never pursued the rematch, and why would Roy have? Watson's career ended before Roy had fought Hopkins in 1993. Gerald's tragic fight with Benn was in 1995. None of those fights were viable. If you don't agree, then put forward an argument.
The one fight that could have been bigger than his fight with Toney was a rematch with Hopkins. But that one probably wouldn't have been more exciting the second time around, so I fail to see how that would have significantly raised his profile. Unifications against Collins and DM would have meant something for his legacy, but not much for the public.
He says nothing about demanding 10m for Roy in that video, does he? Do you have a source that he did?
If you read my comment I specifically wrote if by circumstance ... the bottom line is Roy was a boxing star but not a sports superstar and the reason was he didn't have the fights with the big names .. I understand the same marching order lines you parroted above. They're not new .. that said he was a major player, had HBO behind him and I'm sure somehow someway some of those fights could have happened but they didn't .. maybe he demanded to much of the purse, etc .. none of us know for sure anything but the fights did not happen ..
I'm good. Been posting somewhere else. Just decided to post on here again yesterday. Everything is good. Still dancing, still married, still got the kids! Just doing me man! How are you?
While I generally agree with this^ sentiment, I also find it ironic that Malinga, having been beaten by both Benn and Eubank, somehow got a fight with RJJ (albeit a non-title bout).
